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Strawberries, Potatoes, and Garlic

Posted on March 1, 2012 at 11:25 PM

Been a rather busy week for me at work and I also managed to come down with a virus of some sort on Tuesday that laid me out for the day.   Between being sick and work commitments, there has been no time this week to do anything garden related other than to water the seedlings that are growing under the grow lights in the guest bedroom.   I have a couple of seedling trays that need me to remove the “extras” to thin down to a single sturdy plant in each soil block or cell.   Hopefully I will have some time this coming weekend to do some maintenance on the youngsters – thinning, potting up where needed, and all of them could use a drink of weak kelp emulsion tea.                        

 

 I ordered some Fort Laramie everbearing strawberries back in January because they were highly recommended by Mr. H who writes the incredibly interesting and inspiring blog called “Subsistence Pattern”.    My intention is to plant these strawberries at the base of my ultra-dwarf apple trees as a ground cover crop.   Received an email a day or so ago saying they had shipped, so I will likely be planting some strawberry starts this coming weekend as well.                      

 

Last weekend, I pulled out the seed potato stock and laid them out on a table in the shop to encourage them to begin sprouting.   The shop is quite cool but does have a heater that kicks on when it gets down around 40 degrees.   There are also some windows that allow in a little sunlight too.   Both the slightly warmer conditions and some light should encourage them to break storage dormancy.   I don’t need the potatoes until mid to late March so they have lots of time to get a few sprouts going.    Amazingly, the storage eating potatoes do not have any sprouts so far either.   The conditions have been really good this year for storing spuds.   It is pretty rare when I don’t have at least a few sprouting in the box by the start of March.                                                         

 

The garlic patch is giving me some real hope that this may shape up to be a good growing year.   They have come out of the chute strong and are looking pretty hale and hearty as of the end of February.                           

 

          

The onions and celery starts are already in the unheated greenhouse – growing on and hardening off in preparation for eventual planting out in the garden.   Soon the broccoli, cabbages, and spring kale starts will be moved out there too.   All of these hardier items will be planted in the garden in just a few short weeks and will kick off the steady process of planting up the garden over the course of late March to mid-May.   Sadly, this also means that I will soon need to shut the gates to the garden and kick the chickens out for the growing season.   They will be allowed to forage in other areas on our property but they love to graze the garden walkways and work the growing beds for insects and will not be happy to be shut out of it.   

    

Got my list of things I want to get to this weekend. If I manage to do half of it I will be happy.                                                           

            

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Categories: Potatoes, Berries, Vegetables

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16 Comments

Reply Randy
07:31 AM on March 02, 2012 
Laura,
Hope you enjoy those strawberries they sound interesting to grow and eat of course. I didn't think one needed to critter protect garlic. You garlic looks like what we have grown in years past. This season I don't know what we did but the garlic is huge, co op bought organic garlic like we always do.
Reply kitsapFG
09:04 AM on March 02, 2012 
Randy - The critter protection is to keep my hens out of that bed. We let them forage in the garden area during the winter months and just protect the beds that have crops in them so they don't scratch them up or eat them. The netting will come off when I close the gates and shut the hens out for the growing season. Probably happen in the next week or so in fact. I am encouraged by the very strong early growth, I think it may be an indicator of a better growing year than we have experienced in thje past two years.
Reply Daphne
09:12 AM on March 02, 2012 
The garlic is looking great. Mine is just a couple of inches tall right now. I don't think they liked the lack of snow this year. The tips are burnt. In harsher years they have looked better. I'm sure they will be fine as always as garlic is such a hardy plant.
Reply Mike
09:40 AM on March 02, 2012 
I'm excited to see how well your Fort Laramie everbearing strawberries do and hope they thrive under your growing conditions. So sorry to hear that you have been feeling poorly this week...get better soon and best of luck with all your gardening projects.
Reply Mike R
05:14 PM on March 02, 2012 
Nice looking garlic. I intended to plant some last fall but never found the time. Guess it's too late now. Hope to hear more about the everbearing strawberries, they sound interesting.
Reply Norma Chang
08:23 PM on March 02, 2012 
I tried everbearing strawberries but they never did well so i got rid of them. Your garlic looks fantastic. Hope you are back to your normal self.
Reply Jody
10:50 PM on March 02, 2012 
You look very busy! Everything looks great. I expect amazing harvests at your place.
Reply kitsapFG
10:08 AM on March 03, 2012 
Daphne - I usually get a good stand by this time of year but this batch appears to be really putting on more growth than usual. Could be the compost I put on as mulch is particularly good this year as it had quite a bit of composted chicken coop bedding in it.

Mike - Always a gamble that items will not as well in your region as others. I have a feeling these will be a nice addition to that fruit bed.

Mike R - Actually I think if you hurry you can do some spring planted garlic. Would have been better to get them in sooner, but I know several people that cannot overwinter due to harsh conditions and they actually just plant in early March.

Norma Chang - I actually have a bed of Ozark Beauty strawberries which are everbearing and they do well for me. I wanted to try this variety as they sounded like they were even more vigorous and with a smaller but sweeter fruit.

Jody - I hope they are amazing indeed. After the rather poor showing last year due to the cool conditions all year, I am ready for a good harvest year.
Reply Thomas
08:20 PM on March 03, 2012 
Laura, your garlic looks beautiful! I'm so sad that I won't have any this year because of the move.

P.S. - I hope you're feeling better! (and that this will be a great growing year for us all!)
Reply kitsapFG
09:09 PM on March 04, 2012 
Thomas - Thanks for the good wishes. Luckily the bug I had was relatively short lived.
Reply Joanna
11:27 PM on March 04, 2012 
Thanks for the reminder to thin my starts. It is always painful for me but they look much better now!
Reply kitsapFG
12:15 AM on March 05, 2012 
Joanna - It really does make for better seedlings. I am afraid I did not get to mine this weekend (made it through about 3/4ths of my "to do" list). I am hoping to do this during the evening sometime this week though - as it needs doing.
Reply Diana
01:17 AM on March 05, 2012 
Your garlic growing beautifully Laura!
Reply Jonathan
02:19 PM on March 09, 2012 
That is a lot of garlic...

I am curious why you don't want your chicken in the garden while it is growing? I can understand why while you have seeds starting, but how come after that?
Reply kitsapFG
03:37 PM on March 09, 2012 
Diana - Thanks!

Jonathan - the hens are big eaters of greens and will completely mow down all the greens growing and also will scratch up the beds looking for bugs - such that they will decimate the garden beds and everything growing in it unless they are kept completely covered with bird netting - which is what I do in the winter months with the beds of overwintered perennials and winter crops. During the growing season though, every bed is filled so I shut them out during that time to protect the main season crops.
Reply Jonathan
08:45 AM on March 10, 2012 
kitsapFG - Yes that makes sense. We've never raised chickens, but are considering it in the following year or two as we have an old chicken coop. We thought about letting them go to the garden, but knowing this now, we won't. Thanks for sharing. :)